Hotel Grunewald

By Erik van den Berg, Dec 8, 2002

During Elvis German army days he stayed for several months in Hotel Grunewald in Bad Nauheim. On October 11, 1958 Elvis rented four bedrooms in this hotel. One for himself, one for Red West and Lamar Fike, one for his father Vernon and the last one for his grandma Minnie Mae. Later Elvis rented another room for his bags of fan mail and his secretary Elisabeth Stefaniak.
The hotel was a special hotel for non-smokers and people who needed to rest. Elvis didn’t like this life style so he was the only one who got permission to smoke his cigars in this hotel. Every hour of the day Elvis could ask for something to eat. This was very special because the hotel only served breakfast, he even got all of his meals delivered at his room. Elvis’ favourite meals were: burnt bacon, fried eggs, chili without beans and wieners, ice cream, and the famous peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
After some the time Elvis and his friends Red and Lamar got bored and did things the hotel didn’t like. One day Red and Lamar began a shaving cream fight that ended in a smoke fight because Red was putting a burning paper under the door of their room. The staff of the Grunewald Hotel asked Elvis friendly to leave the hotel as fast a possible.
In December 1958 Elvis found himself a part of a house at the now famous Goethestrasse 14 in Bad Nauheim. Elvis paid the owner Frau Pieper over a 1000,- Deutschmarks this is almost $800,- a month. He had to pay so much because since not all the people liked the attention around there houses Elvis brought with him.
Sources: Elvis Presley Verein and Elvis In Deutchland by Rex and Elisabeth Mansfield.